Investment decisions are complex, and one often knows only later whether a decision was a good one. With your participation, you will help us to better understand the decision-making processes for financial investments and to identify the most important personality traits of successful investors. Our study examines the decision-making processes using the latest neuroscientific and psychological methods. Our goal is to analyze the role of the trader's personality in investment decisions. We also determine to what extent neural predispositions have an influence on it. As the study progresses, you will receive individualized feedback that could help you make better decisions in the future.

Participation is open to all individuals between 18 and 75 years of age. Please note that due to data analysis requirements, we can only consider participants who have an account with Swissquote. The study is conducted in English and German.

Study flow

Part 1

5 online blocks (50-70min each) consisting of standardized personality tests, socio-economic questionnaires, and various investment tasks. You can answer each online block at your own pace, as well as pause them and return later when you have more time.

When you complete all 5 online blocks you will receive:
- A monetary compensation
- An individualized feedback about your investment personality based on the Big 5 questionnaire.

Part 2

Measurements of your brain activity during investment decisions, in our laboratory at the University Hospital Zurich on an appointment of your choice.
Note: After completion of the online part of the study, an appointment will be made with you individually to measure your brain activity, taking into account the development of the Corona pandemic. We comply with high safety standards to protect your health during Covid-19. Our protective measures can be found on this link: https://www.zne.uzh.ch/en/facilities.html

When you complete the second study part you will receive:
- A monetary compensation.
- Upon request: A picture of your brain.
- Detailed analysis of your investment behavior on your Swissquote account and in the study investment tasks.
- An invitation to a final aperitif with all participants and researchers.

Please note that participation in part 1 of the study is possible until June 15th, 2021. Part 2 will continue beyond this date. As we can only give you full feedback after the completion of all parts of the study, we kindly ask you to complete all 5 online Blocks by mid June. Thank you in advance for your understanding and for your cooperation that greatly contributes to the success of our study.

All collected data will be kept strictly confidential.
The comprehensiveness of your personalized feedback depends on how many study parts you complete.
Furthermore, by participating, you make a valuable  contribution to scientific research with important insights for society.

We look forward to welcoming you to our study!

Your research team around Professors Thorsten Hens, Rui Mata, Jörg Rieskamp and Philippe Tobler from Zurich and Basel.